“She was oriented and answering questions appropriately and able to relay her stories to rescuers,” McVay said.

Maneuvering through mountainous terrain, at first, the CHP helicopter had difficulty even locating the stranded woman.

“Unfortunately the aircraft was unable to see the vehicle or the patient for quite some time. We were all searching for her, then luckily one of the kayakers was able to get down to the shoreline and wave a T-shirt to the helicopter and let them know, ‘hey this is where she’s at,’” McVay said.

The woman was finally loaded onto a gurney and airlifted to safety, then transferred and airlifted again to the hospital.

Authorities are still investigating what caused the woman to drive over the hillside in the first place.